Indonesian President Apologizes But Refuses to Step Down"I apologize to the people for the inconvenience created during the current process of political education and the events at the parliament," the 60-year-old Wahid told a brief press conference at the state palace. Presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar said Wahid would not resign despite rising calls from some of his opponents to hand power to Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri. "No, he is not going to resign. He is going to act on the mandate of the people," Witoelar told the press conference. "He will accelerate action against corruption and violations of the law without having to conduct too much political compromise," Witoelar added. Wahid was elected in October 1999 -- Indonesia's first democratically elected president. Wahid also said he was ready to cooperate with the parliament to reform the bureaucracy, amend laws and uphold the rule of law but denied he had lied to the public in connecton with the multi-million dollar scandals. "He's going to respond to the challenges or the questions from the parliament and also to a very clear call for acceleration of reform," Witoelar said. Late Thursday parliament decided to censure Wahid after he was found to have "violated his oath of office and a national assembly decree on clean governance" over the scandals dubbed Bulogate and Bruneigate. The censure might be the first step toward a lengthy impeachment process, if within three months the parliament finds he has not heeded the warning. After three months, the parliament could send him a second warning, which would give the president a month to mend his ways or face an impeachment hearing by the opper house of parliament, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). A special parliamentary panel found Wahid "may have been" involved in the Bulogate scandal and said he was inconsistent in explaining the Bruneigate affair. But the panel was unable to find solid evidence that he had violated the constitution, which would have allowed an immediate impeachment hearing. Bulogate concerns the theft of 3.9 million dollar from the state food agency Bulog allegedly by Wahid's masseur and one-time business partner, Alip Agung Suwondo. Bruneigate centers around Wahid's lack of accounting over a two-million dollar donation from the Sultan of Brunei which Wahid has claimed was a personal gift. The Indonesian press on Friday quoted several political observers as calling on Wahid to resign and hand over to Megawati. "It's better for (Wahid) to resign than wait until the MPR sets up a special session to impeach him," influential Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post. |
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